Chapter 5 - THE SAFE HOUSE SANCTUARY
Dominic drove them to a reinforced safe house in the mountains, a ghost property entirely off the grid. Mateo was deteriorating rapidly, his skin pale and clammy. Using the meager supplies in the safe house, Valeria began synthesizing a crude but effective counteragent based on the bitter smell of the resin on the needles—a rare neurotoxin she recognized from her time in emergency toxicology. It was a massive gamble. She injected the boy, sitting by his side as his body convulsed, praying that her medical instincts were sharper than the assassin’s blade.
